Op/Ed by Tara of FPSP
Houston is the latest porn star begging for money. She claims that she has a fatal form of cancer. There is absolutely no way whatsoever to verify her diagnosis other than the information she provides via a website she has set up, which I will not link to here.
The last porn star to beg for money was the very dishonest Asia Carrera. Why do I brand her with the moniker dishonest? Asia lied after her husband’s death and said that she had no money. I called her bluff on the situation (I did not believe that she was penniless, in her heyday, she has one of the most popular porn star paysites that generated thousands and she made a huge amount of money selling merchandise on the site); alas, vitriol rained down on me for accusing Asia of lying. It turns out that I was right. After collecting cash donations and gifts that totaled in the thousands, Asia amazing ‘found’ a multi-million dollar insurance policy belonging to her husband, which relieved her of ever having to work again. Unfortunately, she did not return any of the donations. She also hypocritically stated that she and her husband chose their home location prior to his death, because they liked the conservative values of the area (this from a person who made adult films, engaged in swinging, and stripped her way through college – you gotta love those closet Republicans).
Back to Houston’s predicament. On her site, she writes that one year ago, she was at the top of the world, she was financially secure and selling real estate in Las Vegas. Why didn’t this financial security include health insurance if indeed she was making a good salary? Health insurance is not cheap, however, I have encountered people who have epilepsy, diabetes, and prior illnesses, that cause their insurance premiums to be very high, sometimes between $500 to $1200 a month; however, despite the cost, they find a way to pay. I have no idea of what Houston’s health record contains, but I think it is inexcusable for her not to have health insurance, based on the fact that she made a small fortune as a feature dancer (porn movies and movie contracts, like the one Houston has with Metro, are not great sources of income, their function is promote an adult performer’s name to create feature dance and paid promotional appearance opportunities), was well paid to appear at different promotional events, and even worked in the Las Vegas real estate during the the period when it was profitable. Even if she was making just enough money selling real estate, she could have easily danced one or two nights at any club in Vegas (any of them would have been happy to have her) to make at least $1000 to pay her health insurance.
Moreover, what happened to all the money she made during her profitable tenure in porn? What about the money she made as a successful stripper before doing porn? What happened to all the money Houston made from her website? How much money does she have coming in monthly at the present time? Xcritic.com has a great article about performers taking responsibility for their health. Want to know how much health insurance costs for a porn performer? It is around $300 a month. One performer told me,’That is too much money to pay.’ Mind you, this person was a proud owner of a $600 IPhone!! She had no dependents either, so $300 a month would not have been a stretch for her to pay. If Houston wants help, then she needs to put all of her tax records since 1993 on her website, so that people can truly access her financial status and then decide if they want to help her.
I am aware that some people will feel that I am being harsh towards Houston (and Asia Carrera, who I told to check out the preggo porn niche at the time of her begging spree), but when I entered the internet porn industry in 1998, Houston was one of the top girls and a very high earner. The fact that she was a high earner squarely makes her current predicament her problem and no one elses. Let’s contrast her to adult performer Nicki Hunter, to whom I donated an Ipod as a raffle item during her cancer benefit at Sardos. Nicki never made thousands of dollars feature dancing, she never had a contract, she never had a website that generated thousands of dollars monthly, Nicki was steadily working her way towards the A list after winning XRCO performer of the year, when she was diagnosed with cancer; in other words, she was a working performer, who also had a family of four. Nicki was in no way rich, monied, or dripping in designer clothes, purses, pricey hair extensions, designer luggage, nose candy or Manolo Blahnik designer shoes (I never saw her with any of those accoutrements and I have photographed and met her many times). I was more than happy to donate to Nicki Hunter, as were other people in business.
Should you donate money to Houston? No, if she is penniless now, she obviously blew the huge amounts of money she made.